Imperial and Willenhall Locks

Imperial and Willenhall Locks

Imperial locks are produced by the Guardian Lock & Engineering Company Ltd. which was founded in Willenhall, West Midlands in 1982. The company was started by former Erebus Locks employee Brian Crutchley alongside Fred Sherratt and Cyril Page.

Guardian Lock offer a wide range of products that has grown gradually over the years. The brands they offer include Worrall, Benton, and Imperial, with all three brands resulting in an extensive range of more than 800 different kinds of locks. The company is based in the UK and is a manufacturing specialist that is focused on delivering engineered solutions and using cutting edge technology to help customers solve complex lock problems.

Through the application of R&D, they design and manufacture top quality latches, mortice locks, and complementary products. The company is BSI registered which means they are not only trusted, but also recommended by the biggest security professionals in the industry. They guarantee 100% product inspection before they go on to dispatch any of their products options.

What is the story behind Imperial and Willenhall Locks?

The town of Willenhall is located in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands. The medium-sized town has played a key role in the manufacturing industry of the United Kingdom for almost half a millennium. It is home to the Imperial Works building where Guardian Lock operates from today.

Guardian Lock & Engineering Company Ltd. started using the Imperial Works building as a factory in 1985. The facility was fully equipped and it is from there that all Imperial products including mortice locks, latches, and complementary products have been produced. Even before the company had started, the early 1900s had seen the Imperial Works building used to manufacture locks. However, it has been extended and modernised since then.

R&F Keats was the lock maker that the Imperial Works building was originally constructed for. R&F Keats manufactured locks in the building in the fifties and even after they left, the building was used by other companies, but from different sectors other than lock making. Imperial Works housed multiple industries such as a maker of door furnishing, a stamping establishment, and a pet supplies wholesale seller, before Guardian Lock & Engineering Company Ltd. finally arrived in 1985. Since then, they have been the sole occupants of the premises.

Four years after they started using the Imperial Works building, Guardian Lock began to expand the property. First, they had the factory space expanded by 6,000 square feet in 1989, and then expanded the facility again nearly a decade later in 1998. This time, they added 7,500 square feet of factory, warehouse, and office space to expand the facility.

What level of quality can be expected from Imperial locks?

Imperial locks are widely recognised for their top notch quality that can compete with about any other brand in the industry. That is largely because Guardian Lock & Engineering Co. Ltd. insist on 100% reliability through the company’s production methods that have been tested and proven. Unlike some other brands, the company focuses on entirely sourcing their materials from local economies. They are the brand to look up to for efficiency in the lock manufacturing industry and British engineering as a whole.

Considering the standards that the manufacturers of Imperial Locks have decided to stick to, the products they manufacture are very difficult to disable or pick and are highly durable. Guardian Lock & Engineering Co. Ltd. has a policy of continually maintaining a robust and effective quality management system that complies with the BS EN ISO 9001 standard. They do this to provide their customers with assurance that the service and products that the company provides not only meet, but exceed their expectations and specified requirements.

The company’s quality assurance system is so designed to make sure the quality of all their products is controlled at every possible point, and this includes products that the company obtains from their UK vendor base and those they manufacture themselves. By doing this, they are able to ensure that both potential and actual conditions, trends, or deficiencies that may result in unsatisfactory quality are detected promptly and on time. Their approach makes it easy for the company to implement effective and timely corrective action.

Not only is Guardian Lock & Engineering Co. Ltd. strongly committed to their policy, but they actively monitor crucial operational areas to make sure they are on target. This helps to continually improve their system of quality management.

What products do Imperial Locks offer?

Imperial Locks come in an extensive variety of different designs manufactured for various kinds of applications, including locks for fire escapes and bathrooms. Locks manufactured under the Imperial brand name fit into three categories which include light duty, medium duty, and heavy duty.

Light duty locks are locks that are used in areas with a limited flow of traffic and so are not used too frequently, for example, locks that will be used in residential buildings. Medium duty locks are locks that are used in places with average levels of traffic, for example, locks that are designed to be used in offices. And heavy duty locks are those that are used in places of high traffic and so are used very frequently, for example, locks that will be used in commercial in public buildings.

The Imperial Lock range includes, mortice latches, 72mm centre cylinder mortice locks, euro & oval profile cylinders, and architectural 3 & 5 lever mortice locks, among many others. Their locks are typically made for wood doors that may open outwards or inwards and may be hinged on the right or left. The forend may come in a number of finishes including electro brassed (EB), satin brass (SB) or stainless steel (SS), and their cases are often made of steel coated with epoxy polyester powder.

Products manufactured by Guardian Lock & Engineering Co.Ltd. come with a guarantee that the company will replace or repair a produce without an extra charge if the defect is due to faulty material or workmanship.